Top Springs - a veritable oasis at the junction of Buntine and Buchanan Highways
Some of the highway signs we came across
Fay with Lucy and Frank from Gippsland - Lucy does all the driving in their 2-wheel drive campervan!
The junction of the Buchanan and Stuart Highways - the end of the gravel for us!!
W with a few Yirara boys at Elliott
Bob was not impressed with the Tennant Creek Railway Station!
Just to recap on our travels since we left Halls Creek: We stopped off at Kalkaringe where they were having a festival to celebrate 'Freedom Day' following the Aboriginal stockmen's strike and walkoff in 1967 and the handing back of the station to the Aboriginal land Council nin 1975. We drove on to Top Springs where we camped overnight. This place is a real oasis at the junction of Buntine and Buchanan Highways! That evening we watched the Wallabies beat the All Blacks in the Pub in the company of a young enthusiastic aboriginal couple. Next day we reached the Stuart Highway, completingthe 182kms in good time as it is an excellent gravel road!! We set up camp at Elliot with great difficulty as the ground was rockhard!! Yvonne and I went and visited 2 of aboriginal families and their sons whom we had known at Yirara College 2 years ago.
Next day we drove to Tennant Creek where we booked into 2 very nice cabins for a couple of nights - this could signal the end of our camping days (this trip). B and F commented that tennant Creek is looking pretty good now compared to when we were here 10 years ago. Y and F did 4 big loads of washing here. Enroute to Alice Springs we stopped at Wycliffe Well, the UFO capital of Australia. We passed the beginning of the Tanami Track which we had begun 7 weeks earlier, completing a very large loop through NW WA and NT! On then to our very comfortable quarters with our friends in 'Alice' where we have been relaxing and catching up with friends from Yirara and Old Timers. Bob and Fay have been spending lots of time with their daughter Narelle, Mark and the boys. We all went to the Opera for the first time last night!! It was a performance of 'La Traviata' by the Opera Australia's Oz Opera. It was excellent and surprisingly Bob and I are now Opera converts! It's now Saturday 3 September and we plan to leave here on Monday, planning to be home in about a week but we'll keep you posted.
BBQ dinner with John, a fellow traveller we have met along the way
Y and W up the only hill in Tennant Creek
'Some Mother's do have them' so they say! W in the dam at Tennant Creek
Relaxing picnic spot at Mary Ann Dam Tennant Creek
Interesting mural Tennant Creek
Who's left his glasses in an interesting spot!!? We got 10 minutes down the road before he remembered!
Some of the aliens at Wycliffe Well
This is what greets you at Wycliff Well Roadhouse.
This is the beginning of the Tanami Road
Fay offering encouragement to Bob as he valiantly tries to hammer in the pegs at Elliott!
Warwick playing Pied Piper to the Peacocks in the campground at Elliott
One of the bikers we came accross - his girlfriend fits on here too!!
A great mural at one of the roadhouses on the Stuart Highway
Having dinner at the Memorial Club Tennant Creek
BBQ dinner with John, a fellow traveller we have met along the way
Y and W up the only hill in Tennant Creek
'Some Mother's do have them' so they say! W in the dam at Tennant Creek
Relaxing picnic spot at Mary Ann Dam Tennant Creek
Interesting mural Tennant Creek
Who's left his glasses in an interesting spot!!? We got 10 minutes down the road before he remembered!
Some of the aliens at Wycliffe Well
This is what greets you at Wycliff Well Roadhouse.
This is the beginning of the Tanami Road
Fay offering encouragement to Bob as he valiantly tries to hammer in the pegs at Elliott!
Warwick playing Pied Piper to the Peacocks in the campground at Elliott
One of the bikers we came accross - his girlfriend fits on here too!!
A great mural at one of the roadhouses on the Stuart Highway
Having dinner at the Memorial Club Tennant Creek
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